This building would once have been opposite the only train station in Buckingham, and has had many uses since it was built. It was originally a foundry producing traction engines and other farm machinery and one of the first factories to produce steam cars. In 1860 one of these cars was ordered by a customer in Belgium, Prince Albert heard about them and was so taken with the steam cars that the factory owner Thomas Rickett drove this steam car for several days to be inspected by Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales.
After the foundry closed Rickett seemingly disappeared from records. The building remained and became a mill, and later a factory producing peptonised milk for Bivouac and malted milk. The milk factory had a huge social influence, setting up the Bowls Club in the park next door as well as producing milk products to be sent to soldiers in World War 1.
It is now home to The University of Buckingham and Buckingham’s only cinema: The Film Place.